CFR Staff Dr. Rita DeMaria, LMFT, CST and Briana Bogue, MFT Present at Philadelphia Trauma Training Conference
July 25, 2018 | The second annual Philadelphia Trauma Training Conference was held this week at the East Falls Campus of Thomas Jefferson University. The conference provided an intensive, collaborative training experience to providers, educators and leaders across health, education, and social service disciplines, as well as to community members invested in the health of their families, neighborhoods, and cities.
Council for Relationships staff members Dr. Rita DeMaria, LMFT, CST, and Briana Bogue, MFT, along with CFR alumna Nina Fortuna, MFT presented “A New Clinical Tool for Disrupting Intergenerational Patterns of Trauma through the Generational Lenses of Disorganized Attachment.” This workshop presented the Abuse, Violence, and Trauma Focused Genogram (AVT-FG) , a method for exploring patterns of intergenerational trauma across key areas of individual and larger systemic functioning.
The Abuse, Violence, and Trauma Focused Genogram (AVT-FG)
The AVT-FG can be used by budding and skilled clinicians alike, who work with traumatized individuals, couples, and family systems in their communities. This particular genogram provides focused attachment maps and timelines for individuals, couples, family members, and community networks. These tools provide concrete skills to descriptively differentiate disorganized attachment family histories, behaviors, and interaction patterns within four domains — the individual, couple, intergenerational, and contextual. The assessment of these client-systems guides an attachment-focused method of strengthening the therapeutic alliance with traumatized clients and their complex systemic context.
About the Presenters
Rita DeMaria, PhD, LMFT, CST
Rita DeMaria, PhD is a distinguished professor, couple and family therapist, sex therapist, author, researcher and relationship educator who is known for her warmth, compassion and commitment to helping individuals, couples, and families in all stages of their relationship. She is a Senior Staff Therapist at Council for Relationships in Philadelphia, established in 1932 as the Marriage Council of Philadelphia. Her clinical experience spans over 38 years and includes work in couples therapy, addictions, child abuse, sexual trauma, delinquency and disadvantaged individuals and families. She joined CFR in 2000 and is both Faculty & Supervisor in the Post-Graduate Certificate Program in Couple and Family Therapy and an Assistant Professor and Supervisor in the Master’s Program in Couple and Family Therapy, in partnership with Thomas Jefferson University. Dr. DeMaria maintains her clinical practice in Center City and in Blue Bell, PA, helping those who seek her expertise in revitalizing and transforming their relationships, primarily if they are at the ‘brink of divorce’. For more than 30 years she has contributed to professional publications, relationship education and books for the public as well as through her training programs, speaking engagements and media appearances.
Briana Bogue, MFT
Briana is a CFR Staff Therapist, doctoral student and researcher. She has a Master’s Degree in Couple and Family Therapy, which provides her background in her Doctoral studies at Bryn Mawr Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research. In addition to clinical practice with individuals, couples, and families, Briana guest lectures at Thomas Jefferson University in Family Therapy and Research courses. In her research, Briana hopes to contribute to the understanding of processes including attachment, trauma, parenting, and the therapeutic alliance, from a systemic and inclusive perspective grounded in social work theory and social justice.
Nina Fortuna, MFT
Nina is a practicing family therapist working in home-based care in the Greater Philadelphia area. She has a Master’s Degree in Couple and Family Therapy, which grounds her systemic thinking when working with children and adolescents in their home and family setting. Nina uses an attachment-focused framework to guide her treatment of children and their families in repairing and healing relationships through validation of their struggles and exposure of their strengths.
For more on this topic, check out the book, co-authored by Dr. Rita DeMaria: Focused Genograms: Intergenerational Assessment of Individuals, Couples, and Families 2nd Edition (2017).
The Master’s in Family Therapy Program at Thomas Jefferson University is offered in partnership with Council for Relationships. For more information about the program, click here.